Fire and Thermal Hazard Analyses of Industrial Zeolite Catalysis for Phenol Production

Abstract

Effective and significant improvement in the technology for the production of phenol has been made over the past decade. New catalysts and processes have been employed to produce a great deal of phenol in the cumene hydroperoxide (CHP) industry. Fire and thermal explosion of CHP has occurred in Taiwan. Therefore, thermal hazard and reactive risk information has been analyzed in this research. Zeolite is employed as a catalyst for the CHP process. The aim of this investigation was to determine the inherent safety of the phenol production process. Effective manufacturing of phenol and safe handling procedures are significant issues for industrial applications. In view of loss prevention, calorimetric application and model evaluations to integrate thermal hazard development are necessary and useful for inherently safer design.